BTW. Joe in Charlotte misspoke above. It isn't the water table that will bear most of the marks. What we need most is the barrel flats (these early guns are often marked on the bottom of barrels forward of the flats instead of on the flats). If the gun has been through proof only once, the only marks on the water table will be a view mark on each side. Both action and barrels must be marked under British law. Until 1955, the only marks impressed on the action were the view marks, which mark was eliminated by the 1954 rules. Since the only mark previously impressed on the water table was eliminated and the law requires marking the action, another mark had to be moved from the barrels to the action. The Definitive proof mark was moved from the barrels to the table 2/1/55. The majority of the marks are on the barrels.
